Health Care Marketing in Practice
HSA 505 MARKETING AND HEALTH CARE
Dione Dixon
DR. Harold Griffin
Assignment 1 Week 3
Marketing is an activity that is closely linked to successful business operations. The business industry that I chose to differentiate with healthcare marketing was the automotive industry. I will start from the basics: health care is a service, while a car is a good. While this does not prevent market competition from improving, it does mean that there are fundamental limits to how far the market can improve. In particular, one productive hospital cannot simply “export” its health care services across the country, and as we know from the car industry, the lack of export markets and distant competitors can impede the creative destruction that makes markets work.
However, this is an incomplete justification. Car repairs are also services, but few people think these require regulation. Yet, they differ in one key respect. While it is easy for me to determine the quality of my car repair, it is much more difficult for me to determine what counts as “good” health care. A large part of this is linked to the uncertainty inherent in any kind of biological process. How does one determine if one is receiving sufficient care? Of course, if there is any gross negligence, it can be detected. Yet if the care is just slightly worse than it should be, there 's no real way for the consumer to know. The problem is compounded by the fact that most people rarely get sick. If you go to get your car repaired every month, you can quickly determine which shop is the best. Unfortunately for neoclassical economists but fortunately for society as a whole, people need catastrophic care substantially less often than they need car repairs, thereby impeding the market from finding the most efficient solution.
Another example is used cars. A problem with used car markets is that it 's not entirely clear whether the car you wish to purchase is good or bad. This depresses the market value of used
Dione Dixon
DR. Harold Griffin
Assignment 1 Week 3
Marketing is an activity that is closely linked to successful business operations. The business industry that I chose to differentiate with healthcare marketing was the automotive industry. I will start from the basics: health care is a service, while a car is a good. While this does not prevent market competition from improving, it does mean that there are fundamental limits to how far the market can improve. In particular, one productive hospital cannot simply “export” its health care services across the country, and as we know from the car industry, the lack of export markets and distant competitors can impede the creative destruction that makes markets work.
However, this is an incomplete justification. Car repairs are also services, but few people think these require regulation. Yet, they differ in one key respect. While it is easy for me to determine the quality of my car repair, it is much more difficult for me to determine what counts as “good” health care. A large part of this is linked to the uncertainty inherent in any kind of biological process. How does one determine if one is receiving sufficient care? Of course, if there is any gross negligence, it can be detected. Yet if the care is just slightly worse than it should be, there 's no real way for the consumer to know. The problem is compounded by the fact that most people rarely get sick. If you go to get your car repaired every month, you can quickly determine which shop is the best. Unfortunately for neoclassical economists but fortunately for society as a whole, people need catastrophic care substantially less often than they need car repairs, thereby impeding the market from finding the most efficient solution.
Another example is used cars. A problem with used car markets is that it 's not entirely clear whether the car you wish to purchase is good or bad. This depresses the market value of used
References: The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care By T.R. Reid Who Killed Healthcare? America 's $2 Trillion Medical Problem - And the Consumer-Driven Cure By Regina Herzlinger Published April 17th 2007 by McGraw-Hill Companies Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis By Tom Daschle Published February 19th 2008 by Thomas Dunne Essentials of Health Care Marketing, Third Edition By Eric N. Berkowitz Essentials of Health Care Marketing, Third Edition Description: The Healthcare Industry